Nordreich Liga Season XXII
]] Nordreich Liga Season XXII ran from September 2, 2015 to December 4, 2015. League stability continued to rule, as for the sixth consecutive season, the league saw no manager changes nor team movement during the off-season as the league maintained its stability; the same 8 teams returned which had played in the previous season. After the resignation and departure of Botha from the Nordreich Alliance on October 4, 2015, the commissioner announced that the Nordreich Liga would have a name change in Season XXIII and become the CN National Soccer League. Zemo City Avengers won the last Nordreich Cup championship on October 10, 2015 by defeating Vinland Berserkers in a pair of 3-1 results for a 6-2 aggregate score in the final. Final Standings Regular Season Nordreich Liga 1 Statistics Leaders All-Star Team Team of the Month Award Retirements & Departures *'Noukeu Keita' (Kaapstad Hornets) - midfielder, age 35. Keita joined the team during Season IV when he was promoted from the junior team. He was one of the best, up-and-coming midfielders seen in the league since Season VII and probably the most outstanding player to suit up for the Hornets. On January 16, 2013 during a 6-0 regular season romp over Keville Athletic, Keita scored a goal off a cornerkick set-play in the 83rd minute - becoming the first Hornet to reach 100 career points scored. Evolving into the team's greatest and dominant offensive player, Keita was leading the team in point scoring by just his third season when he topped the scoring charts for the Hornets in Season VII. He would again lead the team in scoring in Season XI, Season XI and from Season XIII for the next three seasons. Keita played in his 200th bicentennial match during Season XVI on January 15, 2014, a 1-1 draw at Zellar Athletic. Two major injuries occurring in February and March 2014 seriously hampered his performance on the field as his points production dropped from 21 scored the season before in Season XV down to just 4 points in the wake of his rehabilitation and recovery. He was named the Hornets' captain prior to the start of Season XVII. That season, Keita scored his 100th career goal - the first Hornet player to reach that mark - on May 17, 2014 when scored the game-tying goal off a freekick against the Dorpat Lions in the first-leg of their cup match in the Baron Zemo Open Cup quarter-finals. On July 1, 2015 versus Dorpat Lions, in one of his greatest career performances, Keita scored 4 goals in a 36-minutes span - including a natural hat-trick within 16 minutes. He did all his damage to Dorpat in the first 40 minutes of the match as the previously-winless Hornets routed the Lions 5-1 at Greenpoint Stadium for their first win of the regular season. Keita played in his 300th match on November 11, 2015 during Season XXII - in his 19th and final season, as Keita would retire less than a month later on December 4, 2015. At the conclusion of his career, Keita had appeared in 301 matches for Kaapstad Hornets - 2 short of the club record. He dominated club scoring records, leading for career goals (139) and career points (224) - the only player on the team to have broken the mark for 100-goal and 200-points. He retired second in career assists with 85, just 2 behind his line-mate Hendrik van Schou. League MVP *'Amit Alhalel' (Zemo City Avengers) Career Milestones 300 games *'Joar Jochim' (Zemo City Avengers) played 300th match on September 9, 2015 *'Lancelot Zemo' (Zemo City Avengers) played 300th match on September 23, 2015 *'Viilo Mustasaar' (Dorpat Lions) played 300th match on October 14, 2015 200 games *'Daniel Kruijer' (Golden Valley FC) played 200th match on October 28, 2015 Manager of the Season After 10 consecutive seasons either sharing or outright owning the Manager of the Season Award, Baron Zemo was finally dethroned in Season XXII when Manager TiffCab (Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats) won 4 weeks out of 14 for Manager X11 Selections. In what was one of the closest races seen in many season, TiffCab edged out BaronZemo and TerranceJoeB - who both finished tied for second place with 3 X11 Manager Selections. Three other managers rounded out the spots won in the remaining four weeks. Nordreich Cup Quarter-Finals Matches played on September 5 and September 12, 2015 *Zemo City Avengers defeated Kaapstad Hornets (1-1; 5-0) *Vinland Berserkers defeated Dorpat Lions (1-2; 5-3) *Golden Valley FC defeated Zeller Athletic (4-0; 0-2) *Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats defeated Hells Cargo (1-4; 6-0) Semi-Finals Matches played on September 19 and September 26, 2015 *Zemo City Avengers defeated Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats (6-2; 6-3) *Vinland Berserkers defeated Golden Valley FC (2-3; 3-1) Nordreich Cup Finals Matches played on October 3 and October 10, 2015 *Zemo City Avengers defeated Vinland Berserkers (3-1; 3-1) Kaiser Nemhauser Open Cup Quarter-Finals Matches played on October 31 and November 7, 2015 *Kaapstad Hornets defaeted Hells Cargo (2-1; 3-1) *Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats defeated Vinland Berserkers (2-3; 5-2) *Zemo City Avengers defeated Golden Valley FC (2-0; 1-0) *Dorpat Lions defeated Zeller Athletic (0-3; 4-0) Semi-Finals matches played on November 14 and November 21, 2015 *Zemo City Avengers defeated Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats (5-1; 5-3) *Dorpat Lions defeated Kaapstad Hornets (3-2; 5-2) Kaiser Nemhauser Open Cup Finals Match played on November 28, 2015 *Zemo City Avengers defeated Dorpat Lions (3-0) Team Pages *Kaapstad Hornets